“Barely awake and already starting in with the questions.You were a lot easier to take when you were sleeping.”

“You were the only one, Andre. It’s always been you.”

“Goddamn you. How can you still make me feel this way after all these years? Damn you for leaving me! And damn you for coming back like this, just when I thought you were gone forever and I might finally be able to forget you.”

“He was the ghost you never saw coming, death breathing down your neck before you even realized you were in the crosshairs.”

“Would I be healed now if you gave me your blood, Nikolai?”“Are you asking me for it?”“If I were, would you give it to me?”

“When he spoke, there was an odd vulnerability to his deep voice. As if he were letting her peek inside one of the dark chambers of the heart he seemed so sure he didn’t possess.”

“By the blasé flatness of Tegan’s expression as he approached, he might as well have just come back from taking a piss. “Everything good in there, T?” Niko quipped. “You need back up or anything? Bag of marshmallows to roast over that little campfire you just started?”“It’s handled.”“No shit”